Gas-cell protection for airships



April 5 1927;

L. DURR -sAs CELL PROTECTION FOR AIR'SHIPS Filed sept.is, 1924 INVENTQR' #4 0411 P z I BY 6114 QM ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 5, 1927.

UNITED STATES LUDWIG, DIIRRi, OF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO LUFTSCHIFFBAU- ZEPPELIN GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHR'ANKTER HAFTUNG. OF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN,

GERMANY.

GAS-CELL PROTECTION FOR AIRSHIPS.

' Application filed September 13, 1924, Serial No. 737,593, and inGermany September 25, 1923.

My inventionrelates to means for protection of gas cells of airshipsagainst penetration by any solid bodies that might be thrown against them, such for example as pieces of ice which may get into one of the propellers and thereby be thrown against the adjacent gas cell.

Airships when travelling through the air at a low temperature and in moist weather may become covered with ice at certain spots, especially on metallic parts, such as for example'the gearing cases of the propellers or the struts holding these cases. The vibration of such parts resulting from the motors may cause such pieces of such ice to fall off and when by chance they fall into the turning propeller they may be thrown sideways and be driven against the ships body. Since they have received a great momentum from the propeller they may pierce right through the ships envelope and penetrate through the wall of cell.

sional strength arranged outside of the gas cell in aloose and resilient way. For reinforcing such arrangement a strong net or the like may be added. Of course the protective layer must .be at a certain distance from the wall of the gas cell. In this distance the energy of the piece of ice or what ever it be that is caught in the protective layer must be either absorbed entirely or at least. to such an extent'that the energy is reduced to such a point that there is no danger of penetrating the wall of the gas cell. ,It will be -useful with rigid airships to arrange such protection between the outer cover and the gas cell, thereby creating no new air resistance. In addition the outer cover itself may also be reinforced by another layer of fabric attached to it either inside or outside.

In the drawing constituting part of this application and showing an example em-' Such means are for example one ormore layers of-a fabrlc of considerable tenbodying my invention with the propeller illustrated' diagrannnatically, Fig. lis a cross section through a portion of the ship, ,and Fig. 2is a view of a portion of the outer cover with certain parts removed.

In both viewsthe longitudinal girders of the airship are designated as a and the outer to girder may be arranged. Also several superposed layers may be used whereof all may be loose or only some may be loose and others taut. For the purpose of preventing the wall of the gas cell 0 from bulging so far as to touch the protective layer e, tension members such as Wires 7 or the like maybe arranged in a net-like manner. They also serve for steadying the protective layer 6,

as maybe seenfrom the drawings. Outside or nside of the outer cover a reinforclng layer 9 may be attached to it.

My invention may be made'use of by different kinds of airships and it may also serve for protecting other fragile parts of airoraft'subject to destruction by pieces of ice or the like for example containers of gas orliquid,'instruments or the like. 'There fore. I do not limit myself to the, details of the example described or-shown in the drawingas many variations will occur to personsskilled in the art.

Claims.

1. An airship comprising an outer cover, a fragile part inside of said cover and spaced apart therefrom, a propeller outside It may be.

The

of said cover and a protective layer of sheetlike material arranged between said outer 'cover and said .fragile part and spaced from the latter.

.2. An airship comprisingan outer cover,.

a fragile part inside of said. cover and spaced apart therefrom, a propeller outside of said cover and a protective la er of fabric loosely" and resiliently arranged etween said outer cover and said fragile part and spaced from the latter.

3. An airship comprising an outer cover,' a gas cell inside of said cover, a propeller outside of said cover, a protective layer of fabric between said outer cover and the wall of said gas cell, and net-like arranged tension members steadying the outside of the wall of said gas cell and serving for keeping the same from bulging to any great extent.

4 An airship comprising an outer cover, a gas cell inside of said cover, a propeller outside of said cover, a protective layer of fabric loosely and resiliently arranged llO- tween said outer cover and the wall of said gas cell, and net-like arr.-uiged tension members steadying the outside of the vull of said gas cell and serving for keeping the same from bulging lo any grrul. extent.

LUDWIG DU RR. 

